Critic Jonni: Aarzemnieki

Viktorija - Aarzemnieki |

This week saw Aarzemnieki release their debut album "Visi kopā"; which I wrote about in an article for CelebMix today; it was definitely worth the three-year wait, that's for sure. This music video was released August 2016, which really shows how long they have been working on their debut album. It is an official song for TV series "Pirmā deja" - which means "First Dance" in English - shown on "STV pirmā"; hence why there are clips of the show throughout the visual. Watch Aarzemnieki unleash incredible energy whilst clips of "Pirmā deja" is shown throughout, in this music video for "Viktorija".

Aarzemnieki have gone through various line-up changes since the band performed "Cake To Bake" at the Eurovision Song Contest 2014; however, the lead singer Jöran Steinhauer has remained, it is his project after all. Other current band members, according to their Facebook Page cover photo, include Okonomiyaki San, Matthew Medd, Mārtiņš Kits, and Roberts Kits. They came 13th in the first Semi-Final, and therefore failing to make it to the Grand Final. Regardless, they went viral on Twitter in various countries and managed to gain quite the following. They have since been working on new music and dropped their debut album, finally, this week, titled "Visi kopā". The album really showcases the group off as a band; they really have launched something that is certainly missing in music today. This song itself was written by Jöran Steinhauer and Mārtiņš Kits.

The song is the official theme for "Primā deja", so the music video comes off as more of a soundtrack visual, as it includes clips from the TV show, throughout. The rest of the scenes see Aarzemnieki performing the song.

Jöran Steinhauer does get most of the screen time as he takes on the lead vocals. There is so much energy, and they get a lot of extra points for including various translations of the lyrics so that people who don't know Latvian - such as myself - can understand exactly what they are singing about.

In the clips for "Primā deja" we watch couples in dance training as they learn choreography for their first dance at their upcoming wedding. It sounds like an incredible show and it's exactly the sort of concept I want to happen in my future wedding, one day.

Overall, the music video is engaging and interesting throughout. Aarzemnieki brings the fun and the energy, which isn't a surprise since they did exactly that on the Eurovision 2014 stage. Their brand new album is a favourite of mine and I'll no doubt be playing it often. This song is the most catchy track on the album, although every single song stands out in its own right.

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This was the folk song that was loved by the United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest 2014, and quickly hit it big all over twitter at the time, unfortunately it only managed 33 points in the first semi-final of the contest, placing them 13th, and therefore failed to advance to the Grand Final. Aarzemnieki has a good singsong around a camp fire as they explain how they've never baked a cake before.

The name of the band comes from the Latvian word 'ārzemnieki' which means 'foreigners'. The band consists of Jöran Steinhauer, Guntis Veilands, Katrīna Dimanta and Raitis Viļumovs. They are an on-going project but have yet to release any more songs on iTunes or globally. Folk music is hard to promote and make current, when this first dropped it looked like Aarzemnieki might be the band to bring it back, but failing to make the Grand Final definitely deterred them, and perhaps stopped the band from continuing. This song was written by Guntis Veilands.

This music video is a simple performance piece, however this comedic song is failed to be represented as a visual in this video. Where is this cake they've got to bake?

Clearly they're too busy singing around a camp fire to bake the cake that is so urgent. With no kitchen in sight, and none of the events, that they have apparently done in the verses, around; there's not a lot to expect from this video.

Proving they can perform and give out energetic vibes the little group turns into a big camping party, it slightly reminds me of Rascal Flatts' music video for "Banjo".

There's nothing more to comment on from this music video. I don't think they give a great performance, especially considering other artists. Jöran Steinhauer totally stands out alone in this music video. Confidence is definitely attractive, and he proves it in this. I'm guessing this is the last we'll see of Aarzemnieki, but if Jöran Steinhauer pushes he might just make it on his own, but it won't have the same feel as this band. This works as a group, it just needs to be a bit more current with a lot more support as well as promotion.